


Thirteen

by EllanaSan



Series: Tumblr Prompts [21]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Effie & Finnick friendship, F/M, mention of dubious-con, mention of prostitution, otherwise not as angsty as it could have been
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-06
Updated: 2014-03-06
Packaged: 2018-01-14 18:45:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1276891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllanaSan/pseuds/EllanaSan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>prompt : You really need to do something with Finnick crush on Effie i would to see something maybe as a Victory Present from Snow he sends Finnick to Effie to "congratulate" her and Haymitch gets really jealous and he doesnt know why oh well he does but he is just denying it! abd the same time Snow send a girl you for Haymitch just to screw with them a little bit cause Snow have a feeling on what is happening between the two ... of course Effie wont do anything, she sees Finnick like a Son but Haymitch on the other hand... welll you can work from there!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thirteen

Effie flopped down on the penthouse living-room’s couch with none of her usual refinement. According to her watch, it was close to three in the morning, she had spent half the night talking, smiling and thanking sponsors and Gamemakers, the Capitol was still in uproar about their new victors, and she was utterly worn-out. Haymitch, of course, made a bee-line for the liquor cart.

“Pour me one, would you?”

He lifted an eyebrow in amusement but didn’t question her, he did as she asked and came to sit next to her, careful not to spill the glasses full to the rim.

“I’m exhausted.” she sighed, relieving him of her glass. She took a sip and made a face at the bitter taste of whiskey.

“You and me both.” he said before clinging his glass to hers. “To victory.”

“To victory.” She downed a third of her glass in one go. “I hate whiskey.”

“I know.” He snorted. “But it was that or brandy and you hate brandy even more.”

“Very true.” She smiled, letting her head fall on the back of the couch before closing her eyes. She should start making to-do lists. There was so much to do… Katniss and Peeta would stay in medical care for a day or two but there was the crowning and the interviews to plan, not to mention the Victory Tour and… The pile of things she would have to take care of was making her dizzy. Or perhaps that was the whiskey and the exhaustion catching up on her. When had she last eaten? She couldn’t remember.

“Don’t fall asleep on me.” Haymitch warned, taking her glass from her hand. She heard the clinging noise it made when he set it down on the table and she wanted to tell him to be more careful but... “I’m not carrying you to your room.” She didn’t find the strength to open her eyes but she felt the couch dip further next to her and she knew he had matched her pose. Dangerous that. If they fell asleep there, and they were, they would wake up with creaks in the neck. And yet she couldn’t bring herself to care.

She was most definitely drifting off when she heard the chime of the elevator announcing visitors. Haymitch was on his feet, tense and a hand half-way to the hilt of his knife, before she had properly opened her eyes. It wasn’t only his usual anxiety, it was the berries, Katniss’ stunt had upset more than one high-class citizens. He only relaxed when he saw Finnick saunter in the room, followed by Moria, District Six latest victor, three years back if Effie’s memory was to be trusted – and it was. Now, Finnick was a common visitor but the girl? Effie had never even spoken to her.

Haymitch’s eyes glided from Finnick to the girl and lifted an eyebrow. “What now?”

“Haymitch, really!” she chided him, getting to her feet and slapping his arm in the process. “ _Manners_. Don’t mind him. What can we do for you?”

Finnick opened his arms wide and let them fall, wolfish smile on his lips. “Just here to congratulate you. That party was crowded, we didn’t get a chance to talk.” He by-passed Haymitch completely and went to press a kiss to her cheek. “Congrats.” He slumped on the couch and nodded to the girl who was awkwardly eying them both. “Haymitch, you know Moria? She would like a word in private, don’t you, Moria?”

The girl nodded but didn’t look more at-ease. How old was she? Eighteen? Nineteen? Old enough that Haymitch had felt no shame in ogling her in the sponsors lounge once or twice but Effie had deemed her too young and too shy to be a threat, not like Mason, that one she could go without. Not that what Haymitch did and with whom was any of her business, she didn’t want to have to handle that kind of mess. His behavior reflected on her, he was her responsibility and she wasn’t _at all_ in favor of him having an affair with anyone.

“Right.” Haymitch sighed. “Why not.”

Effie watched him step out of the living-room, wondering what that was about. Odd, in any case.

“Can I interest you in something to drink?” she offered Finnick, because it was the proper thing to do. Asking him how long he meant to stay and if it really couldn’t wait after she had at least slept an hour or two would have been a poor way to treat a friend.

“All set.” He winked “Come sit with me. You look ready to collapse.”

“I am.” she confessed, taking back her place on the couch. “I never knew winning would be this hard.”

Finnick scooted over and placed a comforting hand on her knee before stretching his other arm on the back on the couch behind her, effectively trapping her between him and the armrest. “You need to relax.” He squeezed her knee, his thumb tracing pattern against her skin. “You won, it’s your night. You have to enjoy it.”

This was weird. Very weird. And she wasn’t comfortable at all with the way he was touching her. It wasn’t friendly. It was… “What are you doing?”

“Helping you relax.” His hand rode up her thigh, she grabbed it before it could go further than the hem of her skirt.

Her heart was beating frantically in her chest. “Finnick, stop.”

He didn’t remove his hand. “Are you sure? Because I was asked _specifically_ to make sure this would be a night to remember for you.” His smile was strained and there was something pleading in his eyes. “Whatever you want from me, Effie, it’s yours.”

She wanted to throw up at the mere idea of what he was suggesting. She whacked his hand away, as good-naturedly as she could under the circumstances. “Don’t be silly.”

Something akin to relief passed on his face and he winked at her, a little more playfully. “Well, can’t blame a man for trying, can you?”

She rolled her eyes, like she always did when he made that kind of comment, and then frowned. “Where’s Haymitch?”

Finnick winced. “Enjoying his own gift, I would say.”

She stiffened. “He wouldn’t.” That poor, poor girl…

“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “Hard to tell what people would and wouldn’t do sometimes.”

“He wouldn’t.” she hissed, angry at him for even suggesting it. She bolted to her feet and strode to the door. She was almost there when Finnick caught her arm and dragged her back against his chest.

“Don’t.” he said. “I’m grateful for what you did but that was _your_ choice, Effie. If there’s a problem with Moria it will fall down on her, not on Haymitch, not on you but on _her_.”

“Let me go!” she demanded, struggling against his grip but he was stronger than her and when he forced her to turn around she had no choice but to comply. “Finnick, stop that!”

“I’m protecting her.” He pinned her against his chest. “I’m trying to help. If you would just listen to me…”

“Let me go!”

“Let her go.” Haymitch’s voice boomed out in the living-room. Finnick and Effie froze at the same time but he was quick to let go of her once Haymitch actually stepped in the living-room. “What do you _think_ you’re doing?”

“Where’s the girl?” Effie asked, pretending not to see the way he was glaring at Finnick.

“Where do you think?” he scoffed. “Back to her floor with a ‘thanks but no thanks’ card. Thank _you_ for the heads up, by the way, Finnick, I bloody love desperate teenagers throwing themselves at me.” His face hardened. “Of course, _he’s_ not so young anymore. You may want to have a shot, sweetheart, am I in the way?”

“Don’t be preposterous” she snapped. “Finnick was just leaving.”

“Was I?” Finnick grinned jokingly. They had always been good friends, the three of them, but when he caught sight of Haymitch’s face, Finnick sobered up quickly. “I _was,_ actually. I will see both of you tomorrow I’m sure.”

Effie had never seen him exit a room so quickly. “Enjoying yourself, there, princess ?” Haymitch asked, too abruptly for her taste, once he was out. “What were you doing with him?”

“Nothing.” She was slightly vexed by his implications. “Please, I’ve known him since he was fifteen.” He was like the little brother she had never wanted and she loved him dearly but… not like that. She hugged herself tightly. “What was that all about, Haymitch?”

She was so upset she wasn’t even tired anymore. Her distress seemed to deflate his anger somehow and he went to pour himself a drink. “ _That_ was a statement from President Snow. He has taken an interest in us.”

“In us?” Something coiled in her stomach and she instinctively took the glass he was holding out for her and downed it in one go. She shuddered. Whiskey again. “Why?”

Haymitch leaned against the couch, sipping his liquor slowly. His eyes were sharp despite the amount of alcohol he had that day. “If I were you I would avoid berries from now on.”

She rubbed her eyes, forgetting to care about her make-up which, she was sure, was probably already smudged anyway. “But why _that_?”

“What do I know…” he sighed. “To create a ridge between us? To see if we would play their games?”

She didn’t ask what he meant. She knew how she would have reacted if he had chosen to sleep with the girl just like she knew how _he_ would have reacted if she had slept with Finnick. She would have resented it. She would have felt disgusted. She would have hated him. “We didn’t play their games.”

“Exactly.” He looked at her with a grave face. “And by now he probably knows it, which means we’re both a potential threat. Should we drink to that?”

It was probably rhetoric but she stepped closer, snatched his glass and downed that one too. It was starting to make her feel numb which was perfect really because she would take numb over fear any day. “We’re in _so_ _much_ trouble.”

“You should have slept with him.” he said. “It wouldn’t have bothered him _that_ _much_. He’s been crushing on you since day one.”

“Once again, don’t be daft. Of course I wasn’t about to sleep with Finnick.” She leaned against the couch, next to him, so they were both miserably looking at the door side by side. “If they wanted me to sleep with someone, they should have sent an older victor.”

“Yeah?” he snorted. “I would pay millions to see Chaff propositioning you.”

She couldn’t help but giggle at the thought, she would have ripped Chaff’s head off, victor or not. She smacked his arm lightly. “Be serious.”

“I _am_ serious.” And he probably was.

“I would never sleep with Chaff either even if you paied _me_.” There was no love lost between Chaff and her.

“See, you’re too picky.” he shrugged.

They burst out laughing at the same time. She didn’t know if it was the alcohol or the stress of the past few days that was catching up with them but she couldn’t help herself.

“How bad is it ?” she asked once they both calmed down. “On a scale of one to ten.”

Haymitch sighed and then smiled as if it was the best joke in the world, but she didn’t understand what was funny. “Thirteen.”

 


End file.
